. Critically, it suffered in comparison to its predecessor, '' Grave Dancers Union'', the band's breakout release. It includes the hit " Misery", which was parodied by
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American comedy musician, writer, and actor. He is best known for writing and performing Comedy music, comedy songs that often Parody music, parody specific songs by contempo ...
as "Syndicated Inc." on his album '' Bad Hair Day''.
It was the first Soul Asylum album with drummer
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell (born May 3, 1964) is an American drummer and songwriter who has worked with numerous high-profile acts, including the B-52s, Duran Duran, Soul Asylum, Cyndi Lauper, Nena, Grayson Hugh, Spandau Ballet, Gustavo Cerati, and David ...
, who had previously played drums on half of the tracks on '' Grave Dancers Union''.
The album's title comes from a lyric of the song "Promises Broken".
Reception
AllMusic gave a mostly critical summary of ''Let Your Dim Light Shine'', with
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
commenting that the music "isn't quite as impressive" compared to previous efforts, and moreover that this element is easily overlooked because of the "self-importance" of the lyrics.
Track listing
All songs written by David Pirner unless noted otherwise.
#" Misery" – 4:24
#"Shut Down" – 2:51
#"To My Own Devices" – 2:59
#"Hopes Up" – 3:45
#"Promises Broken" ( Dan Murphy, Marc Perlman) – 3:14
#"Bittersweetheart" – 3:34
#"String of Pearls" – 4:56
#"Crawl" (Stephen Jordan, Pirner) – 4:00
#"Caged Rat" – 3:03
#"Eyes of a Child" – 3:35
#" Just Like Anyone" – 2:47
#"Tell Me When" (Pirner, David Samuels) – 3:42
#"Nothing to Write Home About" – 3:14
#"I Did My Best" – 3:46
For the Japanese release of ''Let Your Dim Light Shine'', an additional track was added to the album. It was a cover of the
Descendents
The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1977, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson (musician), Bill Stevenson as a power pop/surf music, surf punk band. I ...
song "Hope". Note that "Bittersweetheart" fades out at 3:17, but the guitar feedback remains, therefore "Bittersweetheart" quickly segues into "String of Pearls". The running time of both songs equals about 8 minutes and 30 seconds long.
Personnel
Soul Asylum
*
Dave Pirner
David Anthony Pirner (born April 16, 1964) is an American songwriter, singer, and producer best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the alternative rock band Soul Asylum.
Early life and work
Pirner was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and ...
– lead vocals, rhythm guitar, keyboards, trumpet, producer
* Dan Murphy – lead guitar, backing vocals, producer
*
Karl Mueller
Karl Mueller (July 27, 1963 – June 17, 2005) - accessed February 2011 was an American
– bass guitar, producer
*
Sterling Campbell
Sterling Campbell (born May 3, 1964) is an American drummer and songwriter who has worked with numerous high-profile acts, including the B-52s, Duran Duran, Soul Asylum, Cyndi Lauper, Nena, Grayson Hugh, Spandau Ballet, Gustavo Cerati, and David ...
Trini Alvarado
Trinidad "Trini" Alvarado (born January 10, 1967) is an American actress best known for her performances as Margaret "Meg" March in the Little Women (1994 film), 1994 film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel ''Little Women'' and Lucy Lynskey ...
mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...
cello
The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...
*Dave Schramm –
pedal steel guitar
The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...
*Tim Ray – piano, electric piano
Production
* John Siket – engineer
* Michael Stern – engineer (non credited)
*
Butch Vig
Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, record producer, and songwriter who is the drummer and co-producer of the rock band Garbage. Producer of the diamond selling Nirvana album ''Nevermind'' (1991), Vig also pro ...
Howie Weinberg
Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize.
Career
Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...